Abomination
by blackwidow73
Summary: What goes around comes around and sometimes the cruelest punishment can be having to watch others suffer for your sins. Arden and Jude both get what's coming to them.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Help

1965

The two were alone once more. It seemed that that hadn't happened in a long while, not ever since Jude had left Briarcliff. As a matter of fact, that day that she walked out the door she thought that she had seen the last of this pathetic man.

She stood there in the doorway, the only light source coming from behind her in the hall. Jude supposed that maybe Arden wanted the dark room so that he wouldn't happen to catch sight of himself in any of the reflective objects in the room, and quite honestly she couldn't blame him. If she were him, she wouldn't want to catch sight of her own reflection either.

Her eyes scanned the small room, not sure what she was looking for. Perhaps something to focus on other than Arden. What she did notice was that his office seemed more barren than she remembered. The plants he had were brittle and dying, the room was messier. The doctor had stopped caring. The stress of everything must have gotten to him, eaten away at him from the inside out until he was fully consumed.

"Are you waiting for me to stop you?" Jude sharply asked, finally breaking the silence.

She remained stoic, her arms folded across her chest. All she really wanted at this point was to figure out why she was here. So far all she had done was stand here and watch as Arden sat in the center of the room on a wooden chair as he held tightly onto the gun. He sat facing his desk, making sure to continually look up to the window, out into the darkness of the night.

"I'm waiting for an apology. Certainly I'm entitled to one," Arden replied, looking up to her with dull eyes.

Arden was willing to take most of the blame for everything that had happened and there wasn't a day that passed in which he felt guilty. Working with these patients, using them to fulfill his need to experiment, to innovate, was his entire life. It was everything he loved. Science.

It had been over a year since he stopped experimenting on these patients. They only served to be a bitter reminder of all the wrong doings in his life. Never had he thought that he could ruin the one person that he actually loved.

It was that very night that he went out and slaughtered all of his subjects. He ventured into the woods, not caring if any of them attacked him or even if he died. All he cared about was getting the chance to be the one to terminate them.

"You'll die of natural causes sooner," Jude coldly stated.

Part of her felt as though maybe she should feel some pity for him. At the same time, this was all his fault. None of this would have happened if he would have been able to have more control over his subjects. All he had to do was not use people as objects.

She then sighed, dropping her arms to her sides as she took a couple of steps into the room. "Besides, I've yet to hear you apologize to anyone."

1963

January meant one thing in Briarcliff, sick season. Sometimes it was the flu, other times it was a simple cold that would just not go away. No matter what it was, it was impossible to keep one hundred plus isolated people from getting each other sick. It wore the nuns down and everyone seemed to be irritable.

"Sister Mary Eunice! Where are the sheets and blankets?" Jude called as she hastened into the common room. It had been Mary's job to take care of the laundry that morning and she had yet to see anything brought to the rooms. "Sister?" She called once more.

Mary Eunice had been in a daze as she knelt down on the ground, cleaning up the checker pieces that one of the patients had thrown during a temper tantrum. Everything around her seemed to be moving in slow motion. There was a dull pounding behind her eyes, a fever beginning to form. She didn't even hear Jude until she was addressed a second time.

"I'm sorry Sister," she weakly responded as she slowly pushed herself up to her feet.

The elder nun sighed, softening her expression as she saw that Mary hadn't been feeling good. Her glazed eyes were accompanied with dark circles and flushed cheeks. She wanted to be able to tell the young woman that she could go back to her room and rest, but they were all busy as it was, it would have been impossible to get others to pick up her workload.

"Just make sure to get the extra blankets to the patients. There's enough people sick around here. We don't need the infirmary getting any more crowded than it already is," Jude told her, making sure to be less harsh.

"Yes Sister Jude," Mary answered as firmly as she could.

The room might have been spinning and she might have wanted nothing more than to pass out and spend the rest of the day sleeping. She could not disappoint the one woman who had liked her. Jude had treated her like she was worth something, and that meant more than anything to her.

She turned on her heel and headed towards the doors to go down to the laundry room. Before she could reach the door though, one of the more well known patients, Shelley, stopped her from her seat on the couch.

"You aren't looking too good Sister," Shelley stated.

More than anything, she just liked to mess with the nun since it was so easy to. She was the only person here who wasn't all that willing to talk about Sister Jude behind her back. She'd even heard Arden make his remarks about her.

"I'm fine," Mary Eunice argued, a tight smile on her face as if it were some sort of proof.

"You sure about that?" Shelley inquired as she stood to her feet. A smug smirk tugged at her lips as she took a few steps closer to Mary. "Seems to me like miss Hitler's riding you a little too hard lately."

Normally Mary would be very patient with things like this. She would tell her that surely she's mistaken and that Jude's only trying to help. Today she just wasn't in the mood to deal with this.

"Sister Jude is only making sure that everything gets done around here. She doesn't ask us to do anymore than she's doing," she curtly stated.

"What? Do you think you'll burn in hell if you say anything bad about her?" Shelley questioned, looking to her with interest. A part of her really thought that the pristine little blonde actually believed such a thing.

"I, I need to go get the sheets from the laundry room," Mary murmured before walking around Shelley and rushing out of the room. This small talk was only upsetting her and she wanted to get through her chores as quickly as possible.

_Mary Eunice, five years old sat at the picnic table. She was at her old elementary school play ground. Everything seemed bleak, cold, and lifeless. The only other person there was her older sister's friend, Karen._

_"So what did you get for Christmas?" Karen asked as she sat down beside her._

_"An orange," Mary timidly said. _

_"We used to get more before you were here," Helen, her older sister remarked. _

_Mary looked up to her, wide eyed with surprise once her sister appeared across the table from her. Helen was the sister closest to her age, five years older than her._

_"Really?" Karen asked, as if it were some huge surprise._

_"Yeah," Helen said, glaring to Mary._

_The little girl sunk down in her seat. She hated knowing that she was the reason that the family was struggling. Everything was her fault lately. "I'm sorry."_

_Helen sighed, rolling her eyes. "That doesn't fix anything."_

_"I don't know how to fix it," she whimpered. _

_"I think you do," Helen replied, looking to her with sinister intent. _

At that, Mary's eyes shot open to view the darkness that engulfed her. There was a tearing pain through her abdomen, one that made it almost hard to breathe. She could feel that her fever had spiked, making the room spin. She knew that she needed to stand, to go and get help. The problem was that she felt as though she would faint if she attempted to stand.

The ideal thing would have been to yell out, scream. She was her though, which meant that not that many people would actually care. No one would come running to her. Maybe one would, maybe Jude. It still wasn't worth waking everyone. It wasn't as though she were important enough.

The nun forced herself to climb out of her bed. Sitting up was painful and slow, but she managed to get to the edge of her bed. Her vision was blurry as she stared blankly ahead. Tears began rimming her eyes from the pain that was being intensified by the movement. She was starting to discover that her hair was wet from sweat.

All she wanted to do was lay back down and go back to sleep, but she was too uncomfortable for that. She needed help, she needed a doctor.

She intended to take a deep breath, but instead ended up just sharply inhaling as she finally pushed herself to stand to her feet. It felt as though the floor had fallen out from under her and she was seeing spots.

Four rooms down, that was all she had to do, make it four rooms down the hall.

First, she had to make it out of her room. As of right now, she was standing by her bed trying to regain some balance. As she quickly learned though, all that was happening was that she was getting worse as she waited.

The worst part would be getting from her bed to the doorway. After that she could use the wall for support if she needed it. Like a toddler learning how to walk, she kept one hand on her bed as long as possible as she started towards the doorway. Once she got to the point in which she couldn't hold onto the bed, she simply took small, careful steps.

It felt as though she had to walk a mile. Panic began to arise in her each time she felt as though she would fall and there was nothing to grab onto. That would mean lying there on the floor until someone cared enough to notice that she was missing. Part of her was sore enough, and tired enough to not care. Being who she was though, there would always be a bit of fear in her.

Once she was able to extend her hand and reach the wall she felt somewhat relieved. Her eyes shut tightly as she took a second to lean all of her weight against it. Her breathing was growing more shallow as her insides began to burn. She was growing less and less coherent. The only thing running through her mind was four rooms. Turn right and pass three. That was all she had to do.

That was much easier said than done. Clammy hands clenched against the cement as she started moving, baby steps carrying her body. Realistically, Jude's room was only about twelve yards away from her room. Suddenly it felt as though it were miles. One hand held onto the wall while the other arm was draped loosely around her middle. She was hot and cold at the same time, a sensation she hadn't felt since she had been little. It was when she was five. She had gotten pneumonia.

That was why they had such a bad Christmas and the rest of the years they couldn't do any better. She had gotten sick and they used all their savings taking care of her. All her thoughts went to when she was little, laying there in that room with all the other children as she stared straight ahead to that dingy window. You could barely see through it. There was a tree near it though, one that was home to a pair of Blue Jays that she would watch.

As soon as she had returned home, all she remembered was hearing her parents fighting. Her father mentioned that it was hard enough taking care of the surprise baby, that now it was nearly impossible with her getting sick so often. She must have gotten sick a few times before that. Maybe hospitalized.

It took a jolt through her abdomen to bring the young nun back to reality. She had to stop for a second to gather her composure and make sure she didn't faint. Once the sharpness resigned to a dull throbbing pain she continued.

"Sister Jude!" Mary called, knocking as soon as she got to her door.

Jude hadn't been sleeping that well, it was hard with the building being so cold, all the patients suddenly needing attention. This was the time of the year in which she slept very lightly. So although she had been expecting to be awoken tonight, the nun had caused her to jump, only for her to roll her eyes as she sat up and climbed out of bed. If anything, she figured that one of the patients had grown ornery or that someone was vomiting. Basically just about every situation that she really did not need to be there for, but they were going to get her anyways.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Jude stated as she grabbed her robe and pulled it closed around herself. The elder nun didn't even bother to try and hide her annoyance as she opened the door. "You'd better have a good explanation."

Even now the iciness struck her, leaving her fearful and wanting to say never mind and leave. The only reason that she didn't do that was the fact that she felt as though would collapse at any second now. Her knees were wanting to give in under her. If she were fully aware of everything, she would wonder how she was even still standing. Her eyes stung as she attempted to focus on Jude who may or may not have been concerned at this point. She wasn't even sure why they stung, nor did she think to question it.

"Help," she weakly whimpered. It was the only word that came to mind.

It took Jude a moment to fully wake and realize what was happening. She watched the girl, freezing for a second as her heart dropped. She had known that Mary was sick, but she never thought it was this bad. She never would have pushed her if she even thought it could get to this point. Her light blonde hair drenched as it clung to her pale, worn face.

Upon hearing the small plea she reached out and wrapped her arm around Mary's small frame. The first thing she had to do was get her a doctor, a real doctor. Never would she trust her in the hands of Arthur Arden. Besides, it was the middle of the night, he was home sleeping. And the nurses here were just that, nurses.

"Okay, come here. You'll be alright. Come here," Jude whispered, gently guiding her to the bed.

It was a small effort to try and keep her calm, although Jude began to wonder who really needed to be reassured here. Mary didn't seem to even notice what was happening. She was growing more concerned. None of the patients here were as bad as Mary was, so she could have something worse than the flu. Maybe her appendix had burst. There were a lot of things that could be wrong, a lot of things that could threaten her life.

Jude helped her to lay down on the bed, taking a second to decide against covering her with a blanket. It was cold, but the woman was already burning up. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she did anything to make things worse.

Mary wasn't all that sure of what was happening. All she knew was that she was back on a bed and she was grateful. As soon as her head hit the pillow she wanted to go back to sleep. There was only one thing that kept her from sleeping, some sort of guilt.

"I'm sorry Sister," she muttered.

The apology wasn't a surprise to Jude, but it did stop her from turning and leaving to go use the phone. Her expression softened as she looked to the girl, just hoping that everything was going to be all right. In all honesty, she wasn't sure what she would do if Mary wasn't okay.

"Don't be. I'll call an ambulance. Just lay down and rest," she told her as firmly as she could.

Mary Eunice only nodded at the statement before drifting off into a fever ridden sleep. A part of her felt better knowing that she wasn't alone tonight. The idea of help though had slipped her mind. She wasn't sure what type of help she would get or even needed.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Relations

"Ms. Martin?" The nurse called as she stepped out into the waiting room.

The voice instantly caught Jude's attention. She had been nervously awaiting any information on the young nun's condition. "How is she?" She inquired, getting to her feet and taking a few steps towards the nurse.

The young nurse sighed as she took another look over the papers in her hand."We've got her stable. The doctor's running a few more tests. I suggest you go home. We won't know anything until the morning."

The idea of leaving didn't exactly appeal to Jude. She felt as though she should be there just in case anything happened. She wanted to be sure that she would be there when Mary woke so that she could keep her from panicking. If there was anything seriously wrong, she wanted to be there to be able to say her goodbye to her.

At the same time, she knew that there wouldn't be much that could be done. Mary would most likely just sleep through the night and most of tomorrow. At the same time, she did not want Arden getting suspicious She didn't want him asking questions about Mary and finding out that she was here instead of there. She did not want him to come here and see her. She had this gut feeling that he had something to do with Mary's sudden illness. The young woman had been sick earlier that day, but it shouldn't have gotten that bad that quickly.

"I left a number at the front desk. Call when she wakes up," she stated in defeat.

"We will call you."

Jude just looked to her for a second, doubting how genuine she sounded. Something told her that she would regret leaving, but she had to go. She had to make sure that Arden would not show up at this place. "Thank you."

1942

Mary was five years old as she lay in the bed. She was in a rather large room with many other children. Some of them had pneumonia just like her, others had fevers, severe coughs, she wasn't all too sure. All she knew was that no one was really allowed to interact with each other.

"You need to get your rest if you want to get better."

Mary looked up to the nun as she changed the sheets on the empty bed next to her. It was occupied this morning by a young girl close in age to her. At the time, she figured that the girl simply got to go home. It would be years before she figured out that the girl had actually died.

"Why?" Mary questioned. It wasn't to be argumentative or annoying, she was genuinely curious as to why this mattered. She felt better when she was sitting up, and she also wondered if she really wanted to return home yet.

"That's how the body heals," the sister answered with a smile.

"What happens when I get better?" The young girl questioned as she made the decision to finally rest her head on her pillow.

"You get to go back home with your family."

"What if they don't want me?" Mary questioned, her eyes beginning to water.

Mary loved her family, but she felt that the love wasn't a mutual thing. Most of her brothers and sisters picked on her, her father seemed to always be complaining. He would make his remarks about her when she wasn't in the room. As a matter of fact, she was sure that they all talked about her when she was gone. The only one that even seemed to remotely like her was Riley. She was the older sister that would look out for her.

She had learned to feel guilty about this love though. All it did was bring upon harassment to Riley from the others. Mary was tired of being the burden of the family and wasn't so sure that she wanted to be where she wasn't welcome.

The nun looked to her with concern, wondering if she should look into that question. She was taking into consideration that the girl was sick, very sick when she arrived here and that puts a lot of stress on families.

"I'm sure they miss you," she stated with a smile.

1963

"How are you feeling?" Jude asked.

She had been called this morning while she was writing up the duties for the nuns for the following week. It wasn't all that necessary, but she had found herself pacing the office, waiting for the phone to ring. She had gotten to the point where she was afraid to leave the room just in case she were to miss something.

Now she sat at Mary's bedside. More than anything she was just relieved that she was doing all right. She still looked worn and tired, her face lacked her normal coloring leaving her eyes to look desolate. However, she was still conscious and she was able to talk to her.

Mary was surprised to see Jude walk into the room. Other times in which she had been in the hospital she had witnessed the patients getting visitors, but that was never the case with herself. Her mother would come and see her here and there, but it was only ever long enough for her to make sure that she was all right and would then leave. Her siblings always had things going on in their lives and they were the main priority.

Jude wasn't related to her though. There was no obligation for her to make sure that she was all right. She was sure that Jude had more important things to do at the asylum.

"What happened?" Mary inquired, still not sure of how she even got here.

Jude sat forward, slightly frowning. It didn't surprise her that Mary was a bit fuzzy on the last twenty four hours. It was just concerning to her that she was still disoriented. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"I woke up sick I think," she replied, her eyes moving to her lap.

The elder nun sighed. Knowing the young woman, she would be instantly embarrassed, and she really did not want her to feel that way right now. "You came to my room ready to collapse," she gently explained.

The young blonde looked up to Jude, her eyes slightly widened. She knew that she must have interrupted something important. She had to of annoyed Jude.

"I'm sorry," she softly stated, averting her eyes.

She knew that those words would be coming sooner or later, and she hated to see her feel guilty for asking for help when she needed it. "Don't be. Just get better," she instructed.

The words should have made her feel better, but they didn't. All they did was confuse her. it made her wonder just how much of a nuisance she was, and why some people put up with her. There was something more important on her mind though, one thing that scared her enough to allow her to shove those thoughts away momentarily.

"What's wrong with me?" Mary asked, fidgeting with her hands.

"I don't know yet. They haven't told me anything yet," Jude answered, just happy that Mary had seemed to move on from her guilt.

"Why are you here? Don't you have to take care of things back at Briarcliff?" She questioned.

Jude's happiness was instantly proven to be premature. A small sigh emitted from her lips as she leaned forward, taking hold of the nun's fragile hand. It was colder than she had expected and it slightly scared her, but she did her best to hide it. No reason to make Mary anymore nervous than she already was.

"I wanted to make sure that you're alright. Whatever's going on back there can wait," she informed her.

There was a knocked at the door, followed by a nurse poking her head into the room. "Ms. Martin?" She called.

Jude sucked in her lower lip upon hearing the voice, hesitating before she stood to her feet.

"I'll be right back," she told Mary, briefly placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

She quickly left the room, closing the door behind her as she stood in front of the the nurse. There was something that seemed off, the nurse looked as though she were nervous to tell her something. On Mary's forms, Jude was listed as the emergency contact and she would eventually have to obtain a copy of the records for her employee records so that they could ensure that she was healthy enough to work with the patients.

"Yes?" She asked, her voice full of apprehension.

"I need to talk to you about her relatives. I need the closest living relative to discuss what's wrong and where we go from here. We need someone who can sign for her."

They needed a relative. That wasn't going to be that hard to do, but Jude really did not want to go there. She did not want Mary having to see those people, the very ones that had damaged her while she was younger. They were the reason that she was so afraid to do anything. They were the reason that she thought she was nothing more than some nuisance.

There was one person that she knew that she could list as her relative, but she wasn't so sure that she was ready to go down that road. There was so much that Mary just did not know about her family and she really did not want to have to explain anything to her, especially not at a time like this.

On the other hand, maybe she didn't need to know anything. Maybe she could just list herself as the girl's mother and she would never have to find out anything that happened. She was naive enough. Of course, Jude would feel wrong lying to her like that.

"I'm her birth mother. I can get a hold of the birth certificate if you need me to," she explained, feeling defeated.

The nurse just nodded, somehow appearing to think nothing of the newest set of information. This nun had just told her that she was the mother of another nun and she didn't find that odd. Then again, Jude might have been looking for anything to focus on rather than the current guilt she was feeling for hiding such information from Mary all this time.

"Get those to us as soon as you can and we'll discuss her treatment options."

oooooo

"What the hell did you do to her!?" Jude yelled as she stormed into the office.

Arden was caught off guard by the nun's anger, but he didn't pay all that much attention to it. If anything, he figured that this was something concerning a patient. Perhaps she thought to blame another natural death on him. Either way, he wasn't concerned enough to even look up from his paper work.

"I assure you that I have no idea what it is that you're talking about Sister."

Jude crossed her arms knowing full well that he had to have had something to do with Mary's predicament. "Do you know where Sister Mary Eunice is right now?" She questioned as she approached the desk.

Jude had finally said something that he was actually interested in hearing. normally Mary Eunice was down here early in the day to see if there was anything that she could help him with, and when lunch time had passed without so much as a word from her, he began to worry. Of course, there was no way that he was going to allow Jude the chance to see that nervousness.

"I figured that she was off running errands for you," he casually answered, not even daring to make any sort of eye contact.

"She's in the hospital. Last night she came to me looking as though someone had poisoned her. Today, I heard that she tested positive for two things. Syphilis and pregnancy," Jude informed him, trying her best to keep herself together.

The doctor stood up from his desk, removing his glasses and placing them down onto the desk surface.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me?" He barked.

"Patients disappear under your care doctor. There are some patients that I swear were not sick until you saw them," she defensively argued. "You lost your right to know everything long ago. And to be quite honest, I wouldn't be surprised if I found out that you were behind this."

Arden had always known that she thought very little of him, and that had never bothered him. He knew that she was too ignorant to ever understand what he was doing. She was too focused on the idea that God was above everything else, when he himself was smart enough to know that there was no God. However, he had always felt that it was his right to know about Mary. They were close.

"If you think that for one second I had anything to do with hurting that girl then you're dumber than I originally gave you credit for," he stated before he went and grabbed his coat from the rack.

"Where are you going?" Jude asked, wheeling around to watch him.

"Where do you think?" He questioned as he exited the room.

1962

"Sister Jude? I think you should take some time to meet our doctor, a general surgeon," Timothy said as he stepped into the entrance of her new office.

Jude had been taking the day to get everything organized and together. The patients would be admitted the very next day and she wanted everything to go as smoothly as possible. The first group would be a handful of people from the courts and they would need to prove their ability to handle these people.

The nun offered him a smile before handing the pile of papers in her hands over to Mary Eunice who had been helping her.

"Come and get me once you've finished putting the files away!" Jude called back to her as she went to meet Timothy out in the hall.

"Sister Jude? This is doctor Arden," Timothy introduced with a smile.

Jude softly gasped as soon as she saw the man that would be working here. Arthur Arden. She could feel heat rising within her body. There was a lump forming in her throat. She wasn't sure exactly how she was feeling, whether she wanted to cry out her tears of frustration or punch the man in front of her.

Arthur gave her a smile, one that was eerily casual. He extended his hand, somewhat curious to see how she would react to the gesture.

"Pleasure Sister."

Jude maintained her composure, eyeing him with some suspicion as she shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you doctor."

Timothy watched the interaction, not fully sensing the tension that was present between the two. He felt that there was something off, but he didn't feel that it was worth it to mention. Instead he decided to move things along just so that everyone could return to working.

"I suggest that you two get to know each other since you will actually be working very closely together," he told them.

"I'm sure," Arden replied, keeping his eyes locked on the familiar nun while retracting his hand.

Jude was about to say something, but the younger nun emerged from the room, almost frantically.

"I'm finished Sister!" Mary announced.

Arden's attention quickly turned to the young girl. There was something about her that he instantly noticed. There was something about her that just looked innocent. There was an air about her that fascinated him.

"And who is this?" Arden questioned.

"This is Sister Mary Eunice. She'll be working here as well," Timothy informed him.

"Doctor Arden," he introduced himself, extending his hand to her.

Mary Eunice offered him a small, sweet smile. "Nice to meet you doctor," she said clumsily reaching forward to return the handshake.

"The pleasure's all mine," Arden assured her.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: After All This Time (Part 1)

Mary was still feverish as she opened her eyes to the white ceiling. The lights were blaring, giving her a small throbbing headache. Her throat was dry and sore. As she reached over to grab her glass of water off the table, she caught sight of Arthur sitting in the chair beside her bed. It took her a minute to fully register who he was as she stared to him with confusion. She wanted to speak, but she wasn't so sure that she could.

Arden smiled at her expression, that childlike innocence still ringing true within her. He held up his hand seeing that she felt the need to start forcing herself to speak.

"How are you feeling?" He inquired.

Mary took a sip of her water, doing her best to fix her throat before she spoke. Her eyes remained glued to him as she returned the glass to its spot on the table.

"I'm fine," she weakly answered before sucking in her lower lip.

"You gave us quite a scare there," he said, almost arguing her statement.

Gave us quite a scare? How many people actually knew about this whole incident. Mary's face began to slightly blush as she thought about everyone back at Briarcliff talking about her. She could almost hear them teasing her, speaking of how pathetic and weak she is.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, lowering her head in shame.

The only thing worse than seeing this girl sick, was seeing her genuinely upset with herself for getting sick. He often blamed her troublesome guilt complex on Jude.

"Nothing to be sorry about," he assured her with a slight smile. "Have you heard anything from the doctors yet?"

"No. I guess they just don't know anything yet."

"I see," Arden replied.

It sickened him to know that Jude had been hiding her condition from her. It was most likely her job to inform the young woman what was happening and what was going to be done. Mary deserved to know about the situation, it was her that would be suffering through everything. The only thing that kept him from telling her what was wrong was the fact that he wanted to force Jude to do it. If she can sit there and decide that she was the sole caretaker of this girl, then she could take care of all the unpleasant responsibilities too.

"You don't think that's a bad thing, do you?" Mary asked, her eyes slightly widening with anxiety.

It hadn't occurred to her to be concerned over not hearing anything until Arden had asked about it. She had been too sick, too tired to think about whether or not the doctors should be keeping her updated on her condition.

The doctor could easily see that he had jarred Mary and thought it best to reassure her that he meant nothing by it.

"No. They probably just want to make sure," he stated with a shake of his head. The man stood to his and sighed. "The flu is a common thing. You probably just need some rest."

"Thank you," Mary replied, smiling to him.

She wasn't sure if he realized it or not, but he was a comforting presence to her. To hear him tell her that she would probably be all right made all the difference in the world. There weren't that many people that actually cared, and having one of them give her some reassurance gave her hope. It was like a parent telling a child that everything would be fine, there was this automatic trust instilled in them that allowed them to naively believe anything their parent said.

"I'll let you get your sleep now. I'll come back to check on you tomorrow," he told her before turning away to exit the room.

"Goodbye," she responded, causing Arden to briefly smile.

As he walked down the hall, he started to wonder what all of this would mean. They would probably have to choose between saving Mary or the baby, which they would choose Mary. They would have to.

He knew that that sweet young girl would never be the same after all of this. Just knowing her, he figured that she would feel guilty over not having the baby. She wouldn't be able to think in terms of the fact that the treatments for syphilis might cause a miscarriage or that if she doesn't get treated, she could die before the baby's born, or even that she could pass the illness onto the child which could die soon after birth.

No matter what happened, they were looking at a woman who would be mourning a child that she didn't ask for. And he had no idea what to do for her.

As he turned to corner, he spotted the elder nun. She was most likely going to check on Mary Eunice, make sure that he hadn't done anything to harm her. It was amusing how this woman could think that he would hurt the only living person that he thought was worth keeping safe.

"Why Sister Jude. What are you doing here? Didn't trust me?" He questioned with a sinister smirk as he approached her.

Jude did not want to stop and talk to him, but she figured that maybe if he was going to taunt her, that he would mention what it was that he had done while here.

"You know very well why I'm here, _doctor_," she sneered, coming to a stop before him.

She didn't trust him. As far as she was concerned, he could never be trusted with anything or anyone. The relationship that he had with Mary was apparent, but this was her daughter. And she had always felt there was this underlying creepiness to the way that he coddled the young nun. She understood his being to her innocence, it was a rare thing. It brought comfort while they were all stuck in a bleak asylum.

As much as she understood it though, she could not condone it. There was too much distrust between her and Arden. For all she knew, he could only be pretending to care about this girl so that he could ruin Mary just to get back at her.

"It's funny. You can't trust me, yet you're the one keeping her illness from her," he stated.

All he really wanted to do right now was get the nun upset. He wanted a scene, something that would embarrass her. Maybe even something that would get her escorted out of this place. Show her how it feels to not be able to go see someone that you care about, to not be able to know how they're doing.

Jude tilted her head, giving him a slight nod. As she pursed her lips, she crossed her arms, doing her best to restrain herself. The last thing she wanted was to put on some sort of show here for everyone. She could wait until they got back to Briarcliff to argue with him.

"I need to discuss treatments. I want all of the information before I tell her anything," she defensively informed him.

"Almost thirty years later and you still can't be straight with me," Arden remarked, a grin of amusement tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Jude swallowed as she dropped her hands to her sides. The same fear that she had felt back then suddenly flooded through her veins. "And whose fault is that?"

"Just make sure that once you find out the truth, you tell me what happened. We both know she didn't willingly get into this," Arthur stated, glad to see that he had shaken the nun.

1937

Arthur stood in the kitchenette of his small apartment. He was only supposed to be here a few months, so he had figured that anything would do. That few months had slowly turned into a year, as he had met someone important.

Right now, he was mindlessly preparing coffee for the both of them. He was taking his time, his glazed over eyes staring down to the two white cups that sat before him on the counter.

For the past few weeks, he had suspected that something was wrong with his girlfriend. She had been acting odd towards him, as if she were scared of him. Something had changed within her. He wasn't sure if he should be worried or angry. It was obvious that she was hiding something from him, but he didn't want to scare her away by asking.

He had spent enough time with his own thoughts. He had to go out there and try to get some information out of the woman, figure out what was happening.

Grabbing the cups, he headed out to the living room, making sure to offer her a smile as he approached her. Right now she looked as though she would be ready to get up and leave at a moment's notice.

"You look nervous," he casually said as he set the glass down before her on the coffee table.

"I'm fine," Jude answered.

She had been sitting perched on the edge of the couch. All she really wanted was to get this visit over with and get back home. She was making sure to not look at the man as he took a seat in the chair to her left. Instead she focused her attention to the coffee before her, wrapping her hands around the warm mug. The only problem was that she couldn't actually drink it, she felt that she might get sick if she did.

"That's it?" He inquired, his concern growing as he watched her. "Usually you have more to say."

'I'm just tired," she assured him, giving him a tight smile.

Arthur grew slightly agitated as he sighed. This would get him nowhere, he could already tell. All he wanted was to help her. She was going to be the only woman that understood what it was that he was trying to do. She would be the one to help him, or so he thought.

"Sick?"

Jude removed her hands from the cup and neatly folded them on her lap. She was not ready to discuss this with Arden and the line of questioning was only making her more jumpy. "Is this why you called me here?"

"I'm just worried," Arden did his best to remain calm and try to show that he was just looking out for her.

"Well your worrying is unwarranted. I promise." She surprised herself by the fact that she was able to keep her voice so steady.

"As long as you say so," he stated before taking a sip of his coffee.

He wasn't sure what was bothering him more: the fact that she wouldn't tell him anything or that there was in fact something wrong here. He was starting to get the idea that maybe she was seeing another man. There could have been someone else, one that she was planning on leaving him for.

"I do have something I want to ask you about though, your trip to Europe," she mentioned.

"I'm going back to visit with family," Arthur clarified, figuring that he already knew what she was going to ask.

Jude glanced back down to her coffee. She had to know how much time she had without him. She couldn't have him breathing down her neck like this anymore. It was beginning to suffocate her.

"How long are you planning on being gone?" She questioned.

"I'm not sure," he replied, becoming leery of the woman's intentions. He set his cup down on the table and leaned forward. "You're welcome to join."

A chill traveled down her spine. The thought of being stuck with him in a foreign country made her fill with dread. She would be putting more than just her life at stake by going with this man, and she would not be able to live with herself if anything were to happen.

"Do you really think that would be a good idea?" Jude asked, clinging desperately to her forced smile.

"I suppose not," Arden flatly replied, examining her facial expression. He could see her knuckles turning white as she tightened her fists on her lap. She was scared. "I'm not sure my family would approve of you."

"Right," Jude said before thickly swallowing.


End file.
